Baby Dee.

So there I was, riding home from work (uphill all the way), when my
eye was caught by the sight of Baby Dee, a winged accordion-playing
woman riding upon a 6-foot tall tandem tricycle
with a harp lashed to the rear seat. Hot damn! The day was no longer
boring! I quickly wheeled away and returned on the Organ Donor so
that I could view her from up close.

Turns out that she was
traveling with the
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus,
covering the streets to
promote the show and earn a little beer money on the side. She
certainly brought it home. She would pedal a quarter block or so
until she came upon someone who didn't look like they would run,
engage her parking brake, and play them a song. Each performance was
special, but each ended with a lively "Hooray!" and a reminder that
she was accepting gratuities, and on that cue she would swing round
the fishing pole affixed to the handlebars and lower a little fishbowl
filled with money.

Within a few blocks she was ready for a break, and
after sowing the pennies on the sidewalk "to grow up and become big
dollar bills", she bought herself a nice big can of malt liquor - and
one for me, too, since I had been unabashedly adoring her for a
while. We retired to the sidewalk to drink from our paper bags, and I
found it quite instructive to watch the reactions of the passersby.

All too often, some repressed car driver would notice her and
instantly turn away - can't blow your cool by openly showing interest
in something different, after all! Of course, after a minute or so,
when they thought that she wouldn't be looking, they'd turn back
for another glance, and she'd be looking right back at them. "Yoo
hoo! That's right, I saw you looking!" What is it with people these
days? "There's a lot of harm in the way that people react to others",
she told me. "Harm?" I replied, "these people couldn't harm a tsetse
fly unless
they had a government-issue flyswatter!" I was annoyed that so many
people were afraid to show any kind of interest, either disgust or
attraction, no commitment to either side. She explained to me that
there is great harm
in the way that so many people squelch their individuality and live
horribly repressed lives as a result. So sure, that should be their
problem, but because
they are of course unable to completely crush their individual
natures, they have to constantly affirm their conformity to themselves
and others by fucking with the weirdos. "And that's bad for people
like me, who don't have a choice about being different. You know, I
was the music director for a Catholic church for fifteen years."
Well, thank the Gods for Baby Dee, fearless on her high perch,
friendly as all get-out after only a few minutes, and without a doubt
the turning point of my exile in Seattle.